


but know that we have will always last

by flow3rs



Series: intentions [9]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Falling In Love, Fluff, Gift Giving, Love Confessions, M/M, Songfic, side mike/miss jenn, they deserve the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:28:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24267454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flow3rs/pseuds/flow3rs
Summary: 5 times ej and ricky thought they loved each other and 1 time they knew it.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/E.J. Caswell
Series: intentions [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685080
Comments: 25
Kudos: 117





	but know that we have will always last

**Author's Note:**

> here's a lil fluff bc this ship fandom is dead af lmao
> 
> title from "my favorite clothes" by rini :)
> 
> ily all and thank u for reading <3

**1.**

they’re sitting next to each other in the practice room, knees pressed together as miss jenn rambles on about the history of musical theatre when ej reaches out to grab ricky’s hands that are resting on his lap and begins playing with his fingers.

ricky spares him a short glance before returning his attention to the teacher, wanting to retain the lesson she’s providing since he’s much less experienced in drama than most people here.

ej, on the other hand, is bored out of his mind. he has  _ not _ spent every summer of his life since the seventh grade going to theatre camp just so miss jenn could reiterate everything he’d already learned.  _ ugh _ , it was exhausting being the most experienced person in the room.

so he’s instead busying himself by playing with ricky’s hands; gently twirling the nimble fingers around his own, tracing the lines of his palm, feeling the ridges of ricky’s sharp knuckles under his own fingertips.

ricky is paying him no mind, absently adjusting his arms when ej pulls his hands in his own lap. the way ej is touching him feels good...relaxing, and he almost forgets that they’re supposed to hate each other.

the two of them have been hooking up for a little while now and...it was good. great, actually. ricky was so used to feeling tense all the time that he forgot what it felt like to be able to release that tension.

but...ricky always felt this underlying nagging underneath his skin when the two of them were together. like there might be something more between them. like...they might have  _ feelings _ for each other.

but that couldn’t ever happen. ricky would  _ never _ let himself get attached, and ej sure as hell wouldn’t make a move.

ricky looked down as he felt ej’s palm slide to fit against his own, the senior brows knitted in concentration as he compared the size of their hands.

something familiar fluttered in ricky’s chest as their hands pressed against each other, ej’s just slightly bigger than his, the tips of his not meeting the height of the senior’s. he swore he could feel a pulse of electricity running between their hands at every point where they touched as his heart rate increased with the small point of contact.

he had the sudden urge to fold his fingers so that they interlocked with ej’s so-- he did.

ej’s fingers hesitated for a few seconds before gently curling to hold ricky back, his thumb caressing ricky’s knuckle tenderly.

chocolate eyes met turquoise ones, before flashing each other small, bashful smiles. ricky could barely breathe as they continued to hold hands, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull away.

ej flashed him another striking grin before turning his focus back to miss jenn in the front of the room, their hands still connected and sitting in between them as ej continued stroking ricky’s fingers with his thumb.

ricky’s eyes stayed glued to ej’s face, admiring him.

_ i think i could stay like this forever _ ... _ i think i could love him, _ he thought to himself.

and then,  _ oh shit. _

**2.**

they’re lounging on ej’s bed, ricky resting his head on ej’s stomach as they both scroll through their phones to pass the time. ej ordered a pizza about ten minutes ago and they’re bored to death waiting for it.

they’ve been hooking up a little more recently; ricky doesn’t really like staying at his empty house, the silence too deafening, and ej doesn’t mind the company since his parents and ashlyn are usually busy.

music is playing from ej’s speaker, brockhampton serenading them in the background from one of ricky’s playlists as the junior adjusts himself on ej’s abs, turning so that he’s facing the senior and laying on his side.

honestly, it’s kind of uncomfortable and ricky’s head is a little heavier than ej thought, so it’s a little difficult to breathe but. he likes that ricky is comfortable enough to lay on him like this and the younger boy’s cheek is warm where it’s pressed against his stomach. so. it’s not like he’s gonna tell him to get off.

his mind is in a daze watching ricky from over his phone that he doesn’t even realize the song’s changed until he hears ricky singing softly, a tender acoustic guitar in the background.

_ “got ashes on my pants, my favourite ones but I don't care no more _

_ if you're not here with me, my favourite one, I might as well just go _

_ i'll leave it in your room my favourite clothes _

_ and you can wear them out, if you want _

_ but just in case you miss the way I smell, it'll just be there…” _

ej puts his phone down softly, taking in the lyrics of the song as the younger boy continues. “what song is this?” he asks, curious.

ricky doesn’t look up at him as he replies, “ _ my favorite clothes _ , by rini. it’s good right? i love it.”

he goes back to quietly singing along to the chorus, continuing to scroll through his phone absentmindedly before adding, “it reminds me of you.”

ej really hopes the younger boy doesn’t notice his heart beating faster at his words. he feels ridiculous as his mind instantly supplies, _ well, i love you _ . 

because of course he doesn’t love ricky. they’re just hooking up. ricky saying that a  _ love song _ reminds him of ej doesn’t mean anything. it doesn’t mean anything that ej is getting butterflies as he listens to the lyrics ricky is crooning from below him. it doesn’t mean anything that ej goes to ricky’s spotify profile and finds the playlist that’s belting from the speaker and sees that it’s called  _ “songs that remind me of you”. _ it means nothing when ej presses the heart icon and saves the playlist to his favorites.

he’s lost in thought again, hiding his shy smile when his mind is brought back to the present by the pizza delivery guy ringing the doorbell.

he reluctantly rolls out from underneath ricky’s head, his stomach instantly missing the warmth as the song finishes.

_ “but know that what we have will always last…” _

**3.**

it’s a saturday night as ej absentmindedly scrolls through netflix for a movie to watch when he hears the buzz of his doorbell.

his eyebrows knit together in confusion, wondering who could be at his house this late. grabbing his phone from the night stand, he checks his notifications for any texts from his friends. there is nothing from his parents either, so he jumps out of his bed and leaves his bedroom to check who’s at the door.

as he crosses the living room to look out of the peephole, he’s surprised to see an anxious ricky behind the door.

he hurriedly unlocks and opens it, concern running through his voice as he says, “ricky? are you okay?”

the younger boy avoids eye contact, pulling on the sleeves of his hoodie as he shifts from foot to foot. “can i--can i come in?” he stumbles out.

“yeah, of course,’ ej affirms, opening the door wider so that ricky can come in.

the junior does, not stopping until he reaches ej’s bedroom as the senior quickly locks the front door and follows him, walking in long strides to keep up.

they both reach the room, ej softly shutting the door behind him as he waits for an explanation from ricky, who is standing five feet away from him.

ricky tries to avoid spilling his guts for a few more minutes before the dam finally overflows.

“my mom left! for real this time! like, she’s not coming back and she’s moving to chicago and she’s gonna live with her stupid new boyfriend!” he blurts out. “a-and she took everything! every sign that she ever even lived in our house is gone. she took all our family pictures and all her favorite plates and she even took the fucking keurig coffee maker! she  _ knows  _ how much i love the keurig!”

he doesn’t even realize he’s sobbing until ej wraps his arms around him in a tight hug, feeling the wetness from his eyes soak ej’s t-shirt.

“and she barely even said goodbye. i don’t even remember what she said but she reached out to hug me and i just froze. i couldn’t even look at her. she didn’t even tell me that she was leaving today, just packed up all her stuff and left. what the fuck? don’t i deserve better than that? i’m your _ fucking son _ !”

ricky clung to ej’s back as the senior maneuvered them so that they could sit on the edge of the bed. the tears kept flowing from ricky’s eyes and he didn’t know how to stop them as ej began rubbing circles into his back to comfort him. 

if he was being honest, he hadn’t really thought this whole scenario through very well. his mom had just left and he was more of an emotional mess than he cared to admit so he ran out of his house a few minutes after the cab pulled away, grabbed his board, and skated to the first place that came to his mind. he felt bad for leaving his dad alone in the house but he thought it was probably best that they both had their own space for a little while.

when his mind took him in the direction of ej’s, he wasn’t expecting much besides a little hook up to blow off steam and then a cuddling session that would give him a reason not to sleep in an empty house. he hadn’t actually expected to pour his heart out about his mom and how it all really made him feel. and he  _ definitely _ wasn’t expecting to cry.

but then ej looked at him with those teal eyes so full of worry and concern; like he actually  _ cared _ about why ricky abruptly arrived at his home at ten pm on a saturday night and--well, ricky couldn’t resist those eyes.

and...he felt a lot better saying all his feelings out loud for once. and he always felt better when ej held him like this, combined with the comforting citrus scent of the senior’s cologne. so, he guesses despite not thinking it all through that well, it still worked out.

the tears finally began to subside and ricky may or may not have added a few little hiccups afterwards just to get ej to keep holding him. but that was his business.

the pair finally separates, ej looking down at him with warm eyes and running his hands through the brunette curls gently saying, “you don’t have to tell me anything else if you don’t want to. but i’m here if you need me. if you want, you can sleep over and i’ll even let you hog the blankets.”

ricky chuckles, his nose stuffy as ej wipes the wetness from his eyes, “you’re gonna steal them from me anyway like you always do.”

“well, i guess we’ll just have to cuddle to keep each other warm, then.”

they move to lie down on the bed, ej wrapping his arm around the younger boy’s middle, bringing ricky’s back to his chest and spooning him. ej connects his phone to his speaker, opting to put on the playlist ricky made for him on a low volume.

as ej tucks his face into ricky’s neck, pulling him even closer, the junior’s heart beats wildly in his chest. ej barely even did anything, but he feels ten times happier than he did an hour ago.  _ is this what it feels like when you really love someone and you know they love you back? _ ricky thinks in the back of his mind. 

he’s too tired and comfortable in ej’s arms to have an existential crisis about it. that’s just going to have to wait for another day.

**4.**

“how could you even say that?!?  _ parks and recreation _ is ten times better than  _ the office! _ ” ricky yells, sitting across from ej on the couch in his living room. he stuffs a handful of popcorn into his mouth as the senior argues back at him.

“ _ parks and recreation  _ is so forgettable!  _ the  _ office is the greatest tv show of all time!” ej reaches over to grab some popcorn from the bowl in ricky’s arms but the junior pulls it away possessively.

“oh please!  _ greatest tv show of all time?  _ gimme a break!” ricky says, stuffing more popcorn into his mouth as he begins to speak, muffling his words, “i fursonally fink ahvahtah da lashst ehmender ez dah rarished joe ah owl shime!”

“ _ what  _ the fuck  _ did you just say to me?!?” _

ricky chews the last of the food, swallowing before repeating, “i  _ said _ , i personally think  _ avatar: the last airbender _ is the greatest show of all time.”

ej reaches out once more to snag some popcorn, but ricky’s reflexes are too fast and he misses the bowl by an inch as the junior keeps it away. “wasn’t that on nickelodeon?”

“and? my opinion still stands.”

“i don’t think i’ve ever watched a single episode of that show.”

the curly haired boy gasps dramatically, placing a hand on his heart in offense. “what kind of life are you  _ living? _ ”

“uhhh, a bad one, apparently,” ej shrugs, nonchalant.

“well!” ricky pipes, turning on the tv and scooting closer to ej (who is finally allowed to eat some popcorn), “we’re in luck, then, because the show just got added to netflix so we are going to binge watch it right now!”

ej stretches an arm behind the junior, getting comfortable on the couch as the intro of the show begins playing, ricky leaning into his touch. “whatever you want, babe,” he sighs, defeated.

the two of them had finally admitted their feelings for each other a few weeks ago (but not after a huge, unnecessarily dramatic fight, of course) and had begun a real relationship. they both figured that they loved each other, but with  _ their _ history, who knows when those words will actually be said out loud. 

but for now they were content lazing about on the couch of the bowen living room, watching  _ avatar, _ and throwing popcorn at each other’s faces.

they get through the first four episodes of the series (ej a lot more engrossed in the plot than he cared to admit), when they hear the front door open.

“ricky? are you home?” mr. bowen calls from the foyer.

“in the living room,” ricky replies, not looking back. “ej’s here, too!”

the father enters the room, unbuttoning his coat when the boys turn around and notice that miss jenn is there as well.

ricky grabs the remote and pauses the show, the pair standing up to greet the adults.

“hey, mr. b!” ej chirps, reaching out to shake mike’s hand and giving a slight bow to his teacher, politely. “and hi, miss jenn!”

ricky goes over to his father and miss jenn, giving both of them respectful hugs. “i thought you guys had a reservation at that fancy restaurant. what’s it called? walter’s hysteria?”

“valter’s osteria,” miss jenn supplies gently, with a smile.

“we did, but the host said the system messed it up and we waited for a while just for them to tell us that the restaurant met its max occupancy! what’s the point of even reserving in advance if that’s going to happen,” mr. bowen rants, rubbing his temples.

“so, we just decided to come back here and order takeout or something,” miss jenn says, placing a comforting hand on mike’s shoulder. “if that’s okay with you guys? i hope we’re not interrupting anything.”

“no, it’s totally fine! we were just watching netflix,” ricky assures, ej nodding along.

“well, are you guys hungry? we could order for all four of us if you two haven’t eaten yet,” mr. bowen suggests.

the boys look at each other, their stomachs rumbling at the same time.

“yeah, i’m pretty hungry,” the junior quickly supplies.

“i could go for some takeout,” ej agrees.

they end up ordering thai food, sitting on the couch, wrapped up in a very heated game of charades. ej and mr. bowen have teamed up against miss jenn and ricky, both pairs yelling furiously at each other, as miss jenn acts out her phrase.

“uh, two words?” ricky questions as he watches miss jenn gesture, “four syllables! honk? honking? driver? yelling?”

the teacher points excitedly in approval, and continues gesturing as though she is asking ricky a very aggressive question.

“driver...question? baby driver? no? okay um...you’re pointing at me...but the title has ‘driver’...OH! you talkin’ to me? YOU TALKIN’ TO ME! TAXI DRIVER, IT’S TAXI DRIVER!!”

“YES!” miss jenn screams, jumping up and down excitedly as ricky rises from the couch beaming to give her a big high five.

“take that, suckers!” ricky taunts his father and boyfriend sitting on the opposite end of the couch as they glare at him. he and miss jenn were now two points ahead of them and he was not going to lose without a fight.

“pfft, anyone could’ve guessed that,” mr. bowen scoffs, waving his son off. he pat ej on the back before encouraging, “ej, you show ‘em what you got!”

ej picked a word from the hat they had all unceremoniously put ripped pieces of paper into, then spent the next minute trying (and failing) to act out what he had chosen.

mr. bowen spit out guess after guess, to no avail. “um, you ate a lot of food? full stomach? PREGNANT! pregnant lady?”

the timer went off, ej sighing defeatedly. “kangaroo! it was kangaroo.”

“ _ what?!  _ you were feeling your stomach like you were growing a child, how the hell was that supposed to be kangaroo?!” mr. bowen complains as ricky and miss jenn stick their tongues out and laugh at their loss.

ej defends, “well, how else am i supposed to act out kangaroos having a pouch!”

“kangaroos are more than just a pouch. they jump too, don’t they?” miss jenn suggests.

“you could’ve done something related to australia!” mr. bowen supplies.

ej, incredulous, raises his hands in defeat, “how the hell do you  _ act out  _ a country?!?”

the three continue arguing and throwing out kangaroo facts animatedly as ricky watches fondly from his place on the couch. he can’t help but feel like he could get used to this group of people, that it almost feels like they’re a  _ family _ .

he hasn’t had that feeling in his own house in a long time.

he watches his father make fun of ej’s poorly acted charade in good nature, ej playfully shoving the man as the trio laugh hard. ricky can’t help the wide smile that graces his face at their fond interactions.

he thinks to himself as he looks at miss jenn, his father, and especially ej:  _ i love you. _

**5.**

“so, how does it feel to finally be seventeen?” ej asks proudly, the two of them lounging on ricky’s bed after a long day at school. 

the other theatre kids had been excited to celebrate the junior’s special day; they decorated his locker, brought him red velvet cupcakes that nini made the night before, and made him a scrapbook full of pictures of him and all his friends with cute messages written inside. they knew ricky usually didn’t like advertising his birthday, so they all helped out to make it an extra special day.

ej had come over after school to celebrate with ricky’s dad and miss jenn, who were going to cook ricky’s favorite foods and watch his favorite movies. the junior couldn’t be happier with how his day was going.

ricky shrugged, joking, “i feel the same except now there’s a giant weight on my shoulders knowing that everyone expects me to be the dancing queen. that’s a lot of pressure.”

“well,” ej begins, buzzing with excitement, “i’ve got a little gift for the dancing queen.”

the senior reaches into his backpack, pulling a large red gift bag out of it and handing it ricky.

“ej, you didn’t need to get me anything,” ricky says, rolling his eyes, but he’s smiling.

“yeah but, you know me, gotta spoil the boyf.”

ricky fakes gagging, “please, don’t call me that.”

he opens the bag, seeing multiple boxes adorned with gold wrapping paper.

“jeez, how many things did you get me?”

“well, if you hurried up and started opening them already, you’d know,” ej encourages, getting impatient to see his boyfriend’s reaction to his gifts.

“okay, okay.”

reaching into the gift bag he retrieves the first small box, unwrapping it to reveal a custom guitar pick inscribed with the words  _ ‘i pick you’  _ and his and ej’s initials.

he wants to hate how cheesy it is but his face hurts from how wide he’s grinning.

“this is so stupid. i love it, thank you,” ricky praises, scooting closer to ej on the bed and giving him a small kiss on the cheek.

he puts the small box aside and reaches into the bag once more, pulling out another small box. he rips off the gold wrapping paper and his eyes widen in shock.

“ _ airpod pros?!? _ jesus christ, ej, aren’t these like $250?!” ricky exclaims.

ej deadpans, “is that a lot?”

ricky stares at him, a deep concern setting in his eyes. “to most people, yes.”

“well, i got tired of seeing you spend ten minutes trying to untangle your headphones everyday and honestly it’s kind of embarrassing to be seen with someone so broke, so i figured i would just end both of our miseries and get you airpods.”

the junior gives him an unimpressed look, replying sarcastically, “wow. you’re so kind for getting these for your  _ broke _ boyfriend.”

“whatever, that’s not even the best part of the gift,” the older boy gushes, pushing ricky to continue.

“what more could you possibly give me?” ricky grumbles but went on anyway, pulling out the largest of the gifts. once again pulling away the wrap, he reveals a shoe box. opening it, his eyes once again became comically wide at the sight, his mouth agape in awe.

he could barely speak as he looked at ej who was smirking at him, smug.

“ej...no way…” he stutters.

“yes, way, baby.”

“off-white converse?!? b-but these aren’t even on the market anymore! and they resell for like,  _ $500!”  _ ricky marvels at the designer shoes in front of him, once again wanting to despise the gift so badly, but not being able to resist running a hand down the bright orange soles.

“take it in, baby, take it in,” ej smirks.

the junior looks at his boyfriend incredulously, “you didn’t have to spend all this money on me, i can’t take these! not that i’m not grateful but this… it’s so much. no one’s ever given me such an expensive gift."

“well, you kinda have to keep everything because most of it is non-refundable and we don’t have the same shoe size so i can’t wear the shoes,” ej reasoned, putting an arm around the younger boy. “and besides, i  _ know _ i don’t have to spend a lot of money on you. but i  _ wanted  _ to. it’s your birthday, it’s special, and you don’t ask for much so i really wanted to treat you.”

“you’re too much for me,” ricky frets, but he leans his head onto ej’s shoulder anyway.

“and i have one last thing for you that’s really special…”

“another gift?!?”

ej reaches into his bag to pull out another small box, tied up with a gold bow. “don’t worry, i think you’ll really like this one.”

he holds it out, an anticipating smile on his face as ricky takes the box from his hand.

the junior unties the bow slowly, taking the top off of the box to unveil a delicate gold chain necklace with a small turtle charm and another charm with the letter “e” that has a small aquamarine gemstone on the corner of the letter.

a small smile forms on ricky’s face as he jokes, “‘t as in troy’, hm?”

“i may or may not have been heavily inspired by high school musical 2,” ej shrugs bashfully. “and obviously the turtle is because the first time we got together i was wearing squirtle boxers, remember? but i don’t really think anyone sells fancy pokemon necklaces so i got that instead.”

“it’s beautiful,” ricky admits with a shy grin.

ej moves closer to the younger boy, taking the necklace out of the box. he reaches around ricky, placing the piece of jewelry onto his neck and putting it on for him, placing a small kiss on the first knob of his spine.

“you know i'm leaving in a couple months for college, and i said i wouldn’t forget about you, but i don’t want you to forget about me either, which is why i wanted you to have this.”

ricky plays with the charms hanging from his neck, turning to ej with tenderness in his eyes, “i love it.”

_ i love you _ , ej has on the tip of his tongue, but ricky grabs him by the chin, kissing him deeply and he knows he doesn’t have to say anything for the other boy to know. they separate for a moment to catch their breaths, ej leaning in once more to place a final kiss on ricky’s lips.

“happy birthday, ricky.”

**+1.**

golden beams of light cut through the glass of the window, illuminating the room. the rays of sun shine onto ej’s face as his eyes blink open slowly.

his brain is still half asleep as he checks the time on his phone and he’s acutely aware of the weight on his chest and his arm that’s numb.

he looks down to see ricky snuggled into his side, face smushed in his shoulder and hand resting on ej’s heart. ej doesn’t think he’s ever seen anything more beautiful, even if he’s starting to lose feeling in the arm that’s wrapped around the younger boy.

ricky’s eyes flutter open lethargically, sensing ej’s movements. the senior boy can’t help but look at him in awe; noting the brown ringlets that have gone awry on ricky’s head, the way his eyelashes fan over his cheeks, the golden tint to his chocolate eyes as the sun shines a light on them.

they look into each other’s eyes, the seconds passing by, before ej whispers matter-of-factly, “i love you.”

ricky just looks at him for a few moments and he almost thinks it was the wrong thing to say; that ricky’s going to run away again until a gentle, tired smile spreads across the younger boy’s face and he whispers back just as sure of himself, “i love you, too.” burrowing his nose back into ej’s neck and placing a small kiss to his tan skin.

ej sighs in relief, pulling ricky closer to him as they’re both lulled back into slumber by the comfort of just being with each other.

_ “cause I can't make you stay if you wanna go _

_ but I will wait for you to say "come home" _

_ now might not just be the time for us _

_ but know that what we have will always last…” _

**Author's Note:**

> here's a link to the playlist ricky made ej:   
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0tm9We9VW8OG3OiE7flahs?si=g3wDbFIASq-yUItV1rtkYQ
> 
> so the next update to this fic is going to be the last of the series probably :( i feel like i've explored all i needed to with this pairing in this universe and i don't want to drag it on for the sake of putting work out there just because. however! i know the next part will definitely be long and i'm planning out the conclusion very thoroughly bc i want to give yall the best that i can! it's what yall deserve for supporting me thus far. i do plan on making the ending open ended in case i ever feel like coming back to this universe tho!


End file.
